Tuesday, July 28, 2009

My normal questionable eating post involves some less than savory meals that come from a general lack of effort or ingredients... or both. This time around, however, I actually made a proper meal with all sorts of ingredients. I took the recipe from a book series I'm currently knee deep in. The book series is The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, and the meal is called Spice Soup. Mr. Goodkind actually had the original recipe up on his site that he created some years before writing the books but worked it in. Here we go...

1.The Ingredients

2.The Spice -

Frying some peppers in oil. After letting the peppers brown and release their heat into the oil. Then take out the peppers. We'll be mixing the oil in with the main soup.

3. More Flavor-

After taking out the peppers I put in the mushrooms and onions to saute everything for a bit.

4. Chop Chop -

I chopped up some pototaoes, carrots, celery, and zuchini.

5. So Much -

To the pepper oil, mushrooms and onions I added all the chopped ingedients along with a bag of frozen corn. This turned out to be more than this pot could handle...

6. Relocation -

So I moved to a cauldron and added a half head of cabbage.

7. Blood Red -

To the mix I added a large can of diced tomatoes.

8. Even More Flavor -

Here's where the soup bit comes in. I added a container of chicken stock.

9. Mix It Up -

Give everything a good stir.

10. Stew It -

I then let it simmer on the stove for about 3 hours.

11. Killing the Time -

While stewing and stirring I decided to do some reading. And in light of the situation, I was reading book 4 from the Sword of Truth series from which this soup came.

12. Sights & Sounds (sadly no smells) -

Here's a video of what I was listening to and looking at for the time it was simmering. It half looks and sounds delicious, but it also sounds kinda creepy. Yum!

13. And Then -

After simmering for a while, this is what it looked like.

14. Can I Get Some Herbs or What? -

For a finisher while I let it sit, I added some green parsley.

15. Enjoy!

In retrospect there are a few things I would have done differently. I would have used Chicken Base instead of Chicken Stock. The base is better for tweaking how much chicken flavor you get, slightly more complicated, but the soup could have used a little more punch. To the oil, in the beginning, I should have added some garlic for a little more body. I found that added a little vinegar to a bowl really helped. I think I would also have used more peppers to the oil just to add a little spice and heat. Overall though, I'm really happy that I made the soup. Now when I'm reading, and he describes sitting around a fire waiting to enjoy a hot bowl of Spice Soup, I'll know exactly what he means.